Of Stars and Sighs
by Hermia S
Summary: Shepard and Thane celebrate the victory over the Collectors in the starboard observatory.


**A/N:** I am a dirty, dirty bird. I swear, I haven't abandoned "Kismet" or "Constellations!" I'm just... on a bit of a roll here. Really. You should blame the girls over at the Neck Snap Appreciation Society. They're too damn inspirational for their own good!

Sooo yeah. Smut warning. Turn back now if it's not what you're looking for.

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"Everyone's gone," Shepard purred against the smooth scales. "They're all off celebrating. Just you, me, and Joker." As she spoke, her hands sought out the fine muscles of his chest, goading him backwards down the hallway. The lack of noise coming from the Mess attested to her statement, and Thane found himself eagerly taking each backwards step, giving Shepard not an ounce of resistance. Each step was followed by another, her body hardly an inch from his, though she would have preferred there be no gap at all.

He nuzzled her temple, his lips barely tracing over the skin, followed by a flickering of his tongue. "You should be celebrating with them, siha," he murmured, nose buried into her hair, his own hands by his sides. It was clear by the tone of his words that he hardly believed them. His argument was weak, if it could be considered an argument at all.

A hint of a mischievous smile flickered over her lips. "Oh, there'll be some celebrating," she replied, her voice husky. "Just not with them." With one hand rested on the slope of his neck, the other trailed fingers upwards, ghosting over the silken red folds beneath his throat. This pulled a quiet sound a pleasure from his lips, and Shepard silently thanked Mordin for sending those videos.

Thane gave a jolt when his back pressed against cool metal, followed by an almost silent gasp at the feeling of Shepard's thigh sliding between his legs. Her lips were warm against his. They were warm against his mouth, his jaw, his neck. His toes curled in his boots as he arched his head back, giving the woman better access to the folds. She felt them inflate beneath her lips and the careful ministrations of her tongue, the vibration sending a delightful buzz through her mouth.

He felt one of her strong hands on his back, pulling him closer to her as the door to the observatory hissed open. Moving away from her embrace, he turned and moved toward the observatory window. It was something else to see the Citadel from space - not so far away that it was nothing but a blip on the galaxy map or so close that you couldn't see the stars. Thane took a long breath as he heard the access pad bleep, indicating it had been locked.

As he stared out at the Citadel, he felt two hands moving along his chest. They passed right over the zipper of his vest, moving with heart-stopping slowness downwards, past his stomach, past his hips, and directly to the bulge in his pants. Thane shut his eyes, his senses torn between the feeling of her hands and her warm breath against the back of his neck. "It's beautiful," he heard her whisper. "I couldn't have planned a better setting for this." Her words trailed off into nothing, her lips pressed against his scalp.

His hands went to hers, supplying a little more pressure against himself. She could feel his hips arching forward, seeking the friction that sent such a warmth into his stomach. At that, she slipped her hands from beneath his and began to move them upwards. He uttered a guttural sound of displeasure, but that was quickly cut to silence when the sound of his zipper being unzipped filled the quiet room.

Shepard's favorite thing about Thane's clothes was removing them. A cliché sentiment considering her feelings for him, but she couldn't help it. She slid around in front of him, blocking his view out of the observatory, her hands dipping beneath the unzipped front of the vest. Her fingers ran along each fine muscle as she moved in close, her eyes not on his, but their hips meeting as she shifted against him.

His vest fell to the ground in a heap, and his hands went to the small of her back, guiding her even farther forward until she could feel his erection pressed right against the very thing he was aching for. Shepard felt a pull in the center of her chest, a visceral response to how much she wanted him in every way imaginable.

But she wasn't done yet. She bent at her knees, slowly drifting down along his torso, leaving a trail of heat in the wake of her kisses. His skin seemed to pulse beneath her mouth, muscles flexing in impatient response to her all-too-patient tongue. By the time she reached his hips, she could feel his hands combing through her hair, urging her downwards, closer. Shepard wasn't going to have any of that. No, she'd already decided what she was going to do to him, not what he was going to do to her. After all the careful attention he paid to her after the destruction of the Collector base, he deserved a little of his own. She wasn't too worried about being careful, though.

Thane seemed more than a little dejected as he watched her stand back up, his lids heavy. "Siha… you stopped." He followed her with his eyes as her hand went to the back of her hair, half-mesmerized as she let it down, waves falling down around her shoulders. He reached forward to run his fingers through it, only to have a wrist snatched up as she moved behind him. Her fingers danced along the wiry muscles of his other arm, down along the bicep, the forearm, until she reached his wrist. Before he had enough time to ask for an explanation, he felt his wrists meet. So the ribbon had other uses besides holding her hair back.

A hint of a knowing smile curled at the corner of his mouth. It was an interesting turn of events - one he didn't mind in the slightest. He could feel her hands on his shoulder blades, goading him forward. Without a word of protest, he let himself be led towards one of the black leather seats that faced the large window. He was more than happy to lose himself in her capable hands, especially considering the lack of use of his own.

Her body moved around his like water, her curious hands sliding down across his abdominals, so close to slipping beneath the leather. He felt himself drift toward her, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she slipped her hands behind him and pulled him closer. The warmth of her body pressed so firmly against his was intense when coupled with the slight grind of her hips against his. He couldn't take it anymore. His pants couldn't get any tighter.

"Please," came his halting whisper, grasping her attention from the smooth skin of his back. "I… This is --" His words caught in his throat as he heard the sound of the hidden zipper of his pants slowly drift downwards. Tilting his head back, he nearly sighed in relief as he felt the fabric release him. Her lips were on his skin again, her mouth barely ghosting over the smooth, iridescent skin of his hip, his thigh, as she slowly removed the skin-tight garment.

But there was no relief. The liberation was trailed by only the desire to feel her all around him. Her soft, warm skin, her enticing scent, the velvety muscles of…

Thane gave a sharp gasp as she pushed him down onto the seat in order to remove his boots. She was slow in doing so, aiming little teasing glances up at him as she discarded one and then the other. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, his mind running in circles as his memory brought forth everything he wanted to do to her - everything that wasn't even possible in this situation. His entire body trembled as he felt her fingertips run up his shins, across his thighs, nails digging into his soft skin as she pulled herself up to stand.

The light of the Citadel in the distance outlined her frame as she stood over him, her hands teasing the hem of her simple grey tank top. Even with the shadows the backlighting cast over her, he could see her arousal through her shirt, an appealing difference from usual. If he'd had any doubts that she'd planned all of this piece by piece, they'd have disappeared the second she slipped off her shirt and revealed that she was wearing nothing beneath.

Before he had the time to marvel at her appearance, she was leaning forward, her tongue teasing the line on his bottom lip, claiming entrance into his mouth before it was given. He groaned against her, trying in vain to arch himself closer. She broke the kiss before he could, moving just far enough away to break contact. He watched, eyes hungry, as her shorts slipped down her hips and to the floor. Once again revealing that she'd had some time to plan before hand.

The pressure was almost too much. The desire to touch her, to feel himself inside of her. She could see the hints of desperation encroaching upon his normal calm. Instead of teasing him even longer, she climbed onto the seat, her knees on either side of his thighs. He wasn't the only one suffering from the lack of contact. Teasing wasn't her thing. It never was. She was as straight-forward as they came. Love making wasn't a win or lose, it was a team effort. Well, most of the time.

Shepard was gifted with a long, almost thankful moan from her lover's lips as she lowered herself down upon him. She curled her arms around his neck, pulling herself even closer to him, her hips slowly, hypnotically drifting from side to side as she worked him into a mild stupor. With nothing to grab onto, his hands bound almost painfully behind his back, he was forced to concentrate entirely upon the sensation that shot into his stomach. White hot and near-blinding, it sent ripples of pleasure through his body he hadn't felt in what seemed like years. Maybe ever.

He could feel the slight perspiration of her skin as Shepard rocked against him, her fingers splayed over his scalp, back arched. Her own moans, peppered with the occasional curse and intertwined with his name, reached a pitch before he could even gather his thoughts for long enough to muster a cry of his own. His hips bucked wildly, an abandon flooding through him that left him gasping for air.

Thane could care less how badly his lungs burned as he settled back on the seat, nose buried into Shepard's hair as she collapsed against him. "We should celebrate more often," she murmured once she'd caught her breath.

An agreement was on his lips when he saw the familiar blue glow of the ship's AI out of the corner of his eye. They both looked towards it - Thane, curious, Shepard, annoyed.

"Shepard," EDI chimed, "Samara would like to gain entrance to the observatory. Should I unlock the door?"

"Tell her to give me about ten minutes," Shepard called out towards the globular representation. When it blinked out of existence, she turned her eyes towards Thane only to see that his smirk had returned with a vengeance. "As I was saying - we should celebrate more often." She arched a brow, mirroring his smile. "Tonight, maybe?"

His smirk faded into a half-grin. "I should return to my meditations."


End file.
